The trial of the man accused of murdering Tupac Shakur is set to begin in Las Vegas
The trial of 63-year-old Dwayne “Kiffy D” Davis in the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur is set to begin Monday in Las Vegas. According to Al Jazeera English, Davis is the only person on trial in this case. He faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon and with the intent to further the activities of a criminal organization.
U.S. prosecutors intend to prove that Davis organized the attack, specifically by providing the weapon. However, the prosecution does not allege that he was the one who shot Shakur. Davis pleaded not guilty in November 2023 and has been in custody awaiting trial ever since.
Tupac Shakur was wounded on September 7, 1996, during a drive-by shooting in Nevada. He died six days later at the age of 25. A few hours before the attack, Shakur and Death Row Records founder Marion “Shug” Knight were involved in a brawl outside the MGM Grand following a Mike Tyson boxing match. Among the members of the other group was Davis’s nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.
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Later that day, Shakur was shot six times from a white Cadillac while driving to a club in Las Vegas. According to law enforcement, Davis was one of four men in the Cadillac. The other three, including Anderson, later died. The car and the weapons used in the shooting were never found.
Davis’s statements in his 2019 memoir, *Compton Street Legend*, and in a YouTube interview could serve as key evidence for the prosecution. In the book, he described how, after a fight involving his nephew, he searched for Shakur and Knight along with three other people in the Cadillac. The defense attempted to have the memoir excluded from the case file, but was unsuccessful.
Under Nevada law, a person can be found guilty of murder for organizing the crime, even if they did not fire the shots. The trial is expected to last four to six weeks. Prosecutors plan to call between 35 and 45 witnesses, including police officers, forensic experts, and individuals associated with Shakur and Davis. Knight is also on the witness list, although he has stated that he does not wish to participate in the trial.
